1952–53 Dundee F.C. season

Dundee
1952–53 season
ManagerGeorge Anderson
Division A7th
Scottish Cup2nd round
League CupChampions
Top goalscorerLeague: Bobby Flavell (14)
All: Bobby Flavell (25)
Alternate colours

The 1952–53 season was the fifty-first season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in Division A, where the club would finish in 7th place.[1]

Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.[2] Dundee would become the first Scottish team to win the League Cup in consecutive seasons, with a late Bobby Flavell double giving them a 2–0 win over Kilmarnock and winning them their third major honour.[3] They would not see this success replicated in the Scottish Cup, losing at home against Rangers. The attendance for this game, 43,024, is an all-time attendance record at Dens Park.[4]

At the beginning of the season, Dundee would try out a unique navy-and-white quartered home kit per the request of manager George Anderson, but proved highly unpopular with both players and fans. When Anderson took ill in September 1952 and his assistant Reg Smith took over coaching duties temporarily, the team agreed to switch back to their traditional navy shirt, with the addition of navy stripes on the shorts and red socks.[5]

Scottish Division A

Main article: 1952–53 Scottish Division A

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.[2]

Match Day Date Opponent H/A Score Dundee Scorer(s) Attendance
1 6 September Motherwell H 0–0 24,000
2 20 September Aberdeen H 3–1 Flavell, Burrell, Harris (o.g.) 23,000
3 27 September Clyde A 1–1 Christie 12,000
4 11 October Raith Rovers A 1–1 A. Henderson 11,000
5 18 October Heart of Midlothian H 2–1 Cowie, A. Henderson 21,000
6 1 November East Fife A 2–3 Flavell, Steel 14,000
7 8 November St Mirren H 0–0 16,500
8 15 November Hibernian A 0–3 25,000
9 22 November Third Lanark A 0–0 6,000
10 29 November Airdrieonians H 0–2 13,000
11 6 December Partick Thistle H 6–0 Flavell (2), Stables, Steel (3) 15,500
12 13 December Celtic A 0–5 25,000
13 20 December Motherwell A 1–2 Flavell 9,000
14 27 December Queen of the South H 0–0 15,000
15 1 January Aberdeen A 2–2 Flavell (2) 21,000
16 3 January Clyde H 4–1 Burrell (2), Flavell, Hill 18,000
17 10 January Falkirk A 1–2 Flavell 8,000
18 17 January Raith Rovers H 2–3 Steel, Boyd 22,500
19 31 January Heart of Midlothian A 1–1 A. Henderson 20,581
20 14 February Rangers H 1–1 Ziesing 24,000
21 21 February East Fife H 1–1 Burrell 23,000
22 28 February St Mirren A 0–0 14,000
23 7 March Hibernian H 2–0 Flavell, Steel 30,000
24 14 March Falkirk H 2–1 Boyd, Steel 15,000
25 18 March Third Lanark H 3–0 Boyd, Flavell, Toner 6,500
26 21 March Airdrieonians A 1–2 Flavell 6,000
27 28 March Partick Thistle A 3–0 A. Henderson, Steel, Flavell 1,200
28 4 April Celtic H 4–0 Flavell, Toner, A. Henderson (2) 28,000
29 18 April Queen of the South A 0–1 10,000
30 2 May Rangers A 1–3 Gallacher 60,000

League table

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
5 Clyde 30 13 4 13 78 78 1.000 30
6 St Mirren 30 11 8 11 52 58 0.897 30
7 Dundee 30 9 11 10 44 37 1.189 29
8 Celtic 30 11 7 12 51 54 0.944 29
9 Partick Thistle 30 10 9 11 55 63 0.873 29
Source: RSSSF[dead link‍]

Scottish League Cup

Main article: 1952–53 Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.[2]

Group 4

Match Day Date Opponent H/A Score Dundee Scorer(s) Attendance
1 9 August Raith Rovers H 2–1 Burrell, Christie 20,000
2 13 August Airdrieonians A 3–1 Flavell (3) 12,000
3 16 August Clyde H 2–2 Flavell, Steel 21,000
4 23 August Raith Rovers A 2–1 Steel (2) 17,000
5 27 August Airdrieonians H 3–2 Flavell (2), Toner 19,000
6 30 August Clyde A 3–3 Christie, Boyd, Toner 18,000

Group 4 table

Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
Dundee 6 4 2 0 15 10 1.500 10
Clyde 6 1 3 2 15 15 1.000 5
Raith Rovers 6 2 1 3 9 14 0.643 5
Airdrieonians 6 1 2 3 9 9 1.000 4
Source: [citation needed]

Knockout stage

Match Day Date Opponent H/A Score Dundee Scorer(s) Attendance
Quarter-finals, 1st leg 13 September Stirling Albion A 1–3 Burrell 8,000
Quarter-finals, 2nd leg 17 September Stirling Albion H 5–0 Flavell (2), Steel (2), Boyd 24,000
Dundee won 6–3 on aggregate
Semi-finals 4 October Hibernian N 2–1 Steel, Flavell 44,200
Final 25 October Kilmarnock N 2–0 Flavell 82', 87' 51,827

Scottish Cup

Main article: 1952–53 Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.

Match Day Date Opponent H/A Score Dundee Scorer(s) Attendance
2nd round 7 February Rangers H 0–2 43,024

Player statistics

Statistics provided by Dee Archive

No. Pos Nat Player Total Division A Scottish Cup League Cup
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
MF Scotland SCO Alfie Boyd 31 5 22 3 1 0 8 2
GK Scotland SCO Bill Brown 9 0 8 0 1 0 0 0
FW Northern Ireland NIR Gerry Burrell 20 6 14 4 1 0 5 2
FW Scotland SCO George Christie 24 3 13 1 1 0 10 2
DF Canada CAN Jack Cowan 36 0 26 0 1 0 9 0
MF Scotland SCO Doug Cowie 39 1 29 1 1 0 9 0
FW Scotland SCO Bobby Flavell 38 25 27 14 1 0 10 11
DF Scotland SCO Gerry Follon 32 0 24 0 1 0 7 0
DF Scotland SCO Gordon Frew 12 0 8 0 0 0 4 0
MF Scotland SCO Tommy Gallacher 29 1 24 1 1 0 4 0
FW Scotland SCO Albert Henderson 26 6 22 6 0 0 4 0
GK Scotland SCO Bobby Henderson 32 0 22 0 0 0 10 0
MF Scotland SCO Robert Henderson 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0
FW Scotland SCO George Hill 10 1 10 1 0 0 0 0
DF Scotland SCO Andy Irvine 5 0 5 0 0 0 0 0
FW Scotland SCO Jack Johnsen 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
DF Scotland SCO Alan Massie 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
FW Scotland SCO George Merchant 5 0 3 0 0 0 2 0
FW Scotland SCO Ian Stables 6 1 6 1 0 0 0 0
FW Scotland SCO Billy Steel 33 14 22 8 1 0 10 6
FW Scotland SCO Jimmy Toner 25 4 16 2 1 0 8 2
FW Scotland SCO Bert Walker 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
MF South Africa RSA Ken Ziesing 33 1 23 1 0 0 10 0

See also

References

  1. ^ "Match results". deearchive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Results for Dundee for 1952–53". londonhearts.com. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  3. ^ Ross, Kenny. "1952 – League Cup win". dundeefc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  4. ^ Ross, Kenny (15 July 2020). "Record Breakers". dundeefc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Dundee – Historical Kits". historicalkits.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2021.